The Danish peninsula Jutland has captured the imagination of both painters and holiday makers, while music-lovers head for Århus, ‘the world’s smallest big city’. Learn more about the dune-fringed shores of Danish Jutland.
Jutland (Jylland) is the Danish Peninsula that juts up above Germany, the “mainland” in this nation of islands. When Copenhageners talk about the provinces, they usually mean Jutland. Nuggets of Denmark’s oldest and richest history – prehistoric bog bodies and Viking runestones – are to be found here, as well as youthful attractions, like Legoland. Jutland’s rolling hills are crisscrossed with rivers, patched with forests, crusted with castles and edged in fine sandy beaches.
Jutland’s capital city
Århus (population 336,411 in 2017), Denmark’s second largest city, is a lively university town known for its music, theatre, ballet, art and cafés, and its Aarhus Festival (26 August – 4 Sept, 2022). The pointed spire of the Cathedral of St. Clement (Domkirken) is 93 meters (316ft) high and offers a superb view from its belfry. Nearby are the winding, cobblestone streets of the Latin Quarter, with quirky boutiques and trendy cafés and restaurants.
Related: Your Essential Guide to Wonderful Aarhus, Denmark
ARoS Århus Art Museum (Kunstmuseum) gives and overview of Danish art from the 18th century to the present.
The City Hall (Rådhus) was built in 1941, and designed by Arne Jacobsen, one of Denmark’s most notable architects and designers.
Den Gamle By (Old Town) is an open-air, national museum of culture and history with reconstructions of 75 Danish town buildings – with merchant and artisan houses and workshops, gardens, shops, stalls, streets and alleys.
Related: Pure Nordic Style at Hotel Oasia in Aarhus
One of the best museum exhibits in Denmark is the 2,000-year-old Grauballe Man at the Museum of Prehistory (Moesgård Museum) at Moesgård, 9km (5 miles) south of Århus. To stand centimeters from the twisted body of this Iron Age Man, found perfectly preserved in a peat bog in 1952, is a chilling experience.
The ruins of Kalø Slot, built in 1313, stand on a small island north of Århus bay, linked to the island by a causeway. The nearby hills of Mols Bjerge where Vikings relics abound in beautiful nature, are well worth a visit. Several artists have set up shop on the pretty Djursland peninsula.
Related: Aarhus – The World’s Smallest Metropolis
Main attractions:
Århus
Grauballe Man – Moesgård Museum
Legoland
Ribe
Langholm Høje
Jelling stones
Blåvands Huk
Aalborg
Skagen peninsula and the Grenen Headland
The Dune-Fringed Shores of Danish Jutland, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): Old Town Århus. Photo: Store norske leksikon.